Initially I just wanted to provide some feedbacks to @MyMaybank via twitter, but there were simply too many things to tell, so I thought it would be easier to write a blog post about it.

Native mobile apps that are extensions of existing web services are a great way to make your service more accessible and enjoyable for your customers. If done correctly, it can boost your customer satisfaction and increase your customer loyalty.

Today I will be reviewing Maybank’s mobile app for iOS and giving some constructive critique. I hope they will take feedbacks of mine with an open heart and improve their app further, so that it can be a better app for their customers in general.

A big no-no – placing an ad on app startup

One of the big no-no’s in mobile app usability is to display an ad during the app startup. Because this slows down the process of user reaching to his objective (i.e main screen, where he wants to log into his account) thus increases his frustration. Because that’s what user wants to do, login to his account and do some transaction or check his account balance.

Well, Maybank thought that it would be a good idea to display a banner ad that lasts whole of 8 seconds (see screenshot to the left) until user sees the main screen of the app. These 8 seconds feels like 20 second for the user..

This is a typical problem in big corporations. Where different product managers who are in charge of different products (in this case Maybank Malaysia Open event) within the corporation are always fighting for eye balls and visibility on company’s website, mobile app, newsletters etc.

Suggestion: Get rid of the ad and make the app snappy, let it go straight to the main page. If startup image has to be placed, then it shouldn’t be longer than 1-3 seconds. Continue reading →

Everyone knows how great MailChimp is at what it does. As a tech startup, they have achieved a lot and they are definitely one of the startups who are doing things the right way. So, it’s only natural that when UX team of Mailchimp releases a new eBook that everyone should read it.

It’s an easy read. It’s divided into major sections like: Collaboration, Research, Design, Development and Refinement. It’s written from their own perspective, so there are a lot insights into how MailChimp approaches things like building a functional team, creating conducive office environment, how each team do what they do etc . I’m sure everyone can find something beneficial in it. I did.

If you are a fan of IFTTT, then you will love Zapier too. Zapier is like an advanced version of IFTTT that is primarily targeted on power users and web developers.

Below is a recipe of mine that I created, it does the following; when I forward particular email to Zapier email, it creates a new card in my Trello account, in the predefined Dashboard, under the “To-Do” column. Attachments of the email is also passed on to Trello card as attachments. You can also tag particular default users to the newly created card. It just saves tons of time..

This is what Steve Jobs said in his popular Commencement Address in 2005 at Stanford University regarding “connecting dots“:

..you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

Full screen web design has been around for some time now, it used to be particularly popular in design agency websites, photography sites, web designer portfolios etc. However, it looks like 2015 will be the year for full-screen web design.

Here are some of the websites which have implemented full screen design:

Why founders of startups get replaced by the board when the startup starts to grow fast? Why many startups fail to integrate into the parent company after the acquisition? And why big corporations struggle to launch a successful startup from within?

Concept of RPV

RPV stands for Resources, Processes and Valuves.

Resources

At the initial stage of a company, all you need are good and reliable people that can get the job done i.e resources. At this stage resources are crucial, if you have a web technology startup and happen to find a great coder and UX developer then you are in luck. On the other hand, if you happen to hire the wrong developer, you will have a tough time launching that MVP (minimum-viable-product) of yours. Similarly, if your lead developer leaves at this stage to a competitor startup, it can greatly affect your product and even your startup as a whole. But this is also the stage where it’s easiest to solve your company’s problems, because most of the problems will be related to resources and usually they can be settled by hiring a new guy or firing an existing employee.

Processes

When your startup is at the stage where it has a product or service that is selling like hot cakes, and you start hiring a lot more people to grow both your company and its revenue, that’s where the processes come in. That’s because you want your operations, customer service, support, billing etc to be run efficiently. That’s when you start to setup company wide processes, different processes for different teams and departments, KPIs (key-performance-indicators), SLAs (service-level-agreements), SOPs (standard-operating-procedures) etc. This is the stage when efficiency is most important to the company, because efficiency is directly related to company’s revenues.

Values

The final stage is when a particular startup has become an established corporation. At this stage “company values” are normally setup to guide the employees in their daily work, dealings and most importantly in decision making. Values are guiding principles that dictate how the company is run in all walks of its life. At this stage, while still important, resources won’t be as important as they were at the “resources stage”. Hiring and firing happens quite often. Individual opinions within the company doesn’t really have any weight unless the person is a c-level. Continue reading →

Designing for Thumbs
In his analysis of 1,333 observations of smartphones in use, Steven Hoober found about 75% of people rely on their thumb and 49% rely on a one-handed grip to get things done on their phones. On large screens (over four inches) those kinds of behaviors can stretch people’s thumbs well past their comfort zone as they try to reach controls positioned at the top of their device.